risotto crimes in zagreb

the rain continues. last night we practised our croatian by watching chuck norris. today there:s a bunch of us watching some old richard widmark movie.

zagreb is an appealing wee place, much tidier than budapest but we suspect this is, in large part, to post war euros or maybe we're just being cynical. that said, it's difficult to get a handle on it as tourists are corralled a bit in the old town. which isn't so good on a monday when everything is closed. in the rain.

so little in the way of cakes until today. we haven't had any strukli as yet but we're continuing the chocolate odyssey with the local version. t's hot chocolate was so dense her spoon really did stand up in it, the best, she says, she's ever tasted. the chocolate cakes are good but not budapest torte good. and finally we get to local signature cake, the kremesnite. scottish readers will recognise this as the humble vanilla slice but instead of the donkey choking pastry and the luminescent paste sludge that constitutes a filling at home here in zagreb this is a rather lovely crisp thin filo filled with a light yet resistant cream. lovely. and unlike the vanilla slice or other such hallucinogenic scottish fare it doesn't cause genetic disorders

the market up the road is great but unfortunately we don't have anywhere to cook anything. still bread and ewe's cheese. can't complain. not about that anyway. but last night we were forced out to eat. i wasn't that hungry so i thought risotto would be simple enough. even allowing for local variation i was unprepared for what arrived. like rice pudding without the nutmeg. almost like risotto but without the risotto rice. and some sort of cream sauce.... a risotto crime and no mistake.

such trauma did it cause me that tonight we're off for macrobiotic fare tonight. and then ljubljana..